CYBERSHEATH BLOG

As part of an ongoing series on using privileged account management solutions to meet DFARS requirements, CyberSheath’s security consultants have explored technical controls in great detail, providing readers with real world applications that make a meaningful impact. This week CyberSheath continues to explore NIST control 800-171, “separate the duties of individuals to reduce the risk of malevolent activity without collusion”.

Last week CyberSheath began a new series, “In-Depth Look at PAM Controls for DFARS Requirements”, dedicated to providing a detailed analysis on how privileged account management solutions play an important role for organizations in meeting DFARS requirements.

In previous blogs, CyberSheath security analysts have identified new cyber security requirements from the recent changes to DFARS and have provided solution overviews for meeting those requirements and regulations. The series “In-Depth Look at PAM Controls for DFARS Requirements” will expand on previously mentioned regulations and provide a more granular look at how privileged account management solutions can play an important role in meeting DFARS requirements.

Organizations continue to expand their application infrastructure at an alarming rate, whether it be in the cloud or on-site. Studies vary, but an estimated 48% to 65% of servers worldwide are run on some flavor of UNIX. The latest report from the Linux Foundation found that Linux is winning the battle in the cloud with an estimated 79% of cloud deployments running the operating system. Many of these UNIX devices are using SSH keys for authentication instead of passwords for the sake of convenience.

A recent global study shed light on the current gap between executives and their organization’s security. The study, conducted by Dimensional Research (commissioned for a project by CyberArk), surveyed the opinions of 308 IT security professionals worldwide and captured hard data on enterprise security awareness at the executive level. While more and more organizations are quickly increasing their focus on security to stay out of today’s almost weekly headlines of multimillion-dollar security breaches and lawsuits, this study shows executives in general are far behind the curve. Here are some highlights from the study:

If you’re reading this blog, chances are, it’s your responsibility to understand and enforce your organization’s compliance with the latest PCI Data Security Standards. With the release of PCI DSS version 3.2, the PCI Security Standards Council General Manager Stephen Orfei explained that “PCI DSS 3.2 advocates that organizations focus on people, process and policy, with technology playing an important role in reducing the overall cardholder data footprint.” Privileged accounts and their management is the central point of where people, process, policy, technology and security converge. It is no surprise then that the PCI DSS 3.2 standards spend much of their time stressing the importance of protecting privileged accounts.

The deadline of June 1 looms for the Department of Homeland Security to gather threat-based data regarding our nation’s critical infrastructure. According to Netgov.com, by September of this year, the DHS is tasked with putting together a plan to put that data to use. This should come as no surprise to security analysts as the rise in critical infrastructure attacks in the media has become more prevalent since the New York Times published articles about Stuxnet and joint Israeli-American involvement. More recently, the world has seen cyber-physical attacks in the Ukraine against its bulk-electric system, in the United States against a NY flood-control dam, and several weeks ago in Sweden against an air-traffic control system.